Must Be Love
by Pascall
Summary: Rose's cannon broke, leaving her struck on the slow path in early 20th century England. She needs to find a way to survive and live until she can run into the right Doctor. In 1912 she gets a job at Farringham's School for Boys. Human Nature/Family of Blood onwards AU.
1. The Slow Path

**I've recently gotten into the Doctor Who fandom and let's just say, I'm kicking myself for not giving in and watching years ago. I absolutely love Rose and the Doctor. It doesn't matter which Doctor, but I do have to say that Ten is my favourite.**

 **This is my first, but hopefully not my last Doctor Who fic.**

 **I do not own Doctor Who.**

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Chapter 1

The Slow Path

Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf. _Bad Wolf._ It always came back to Bad Wolf. She had once said the words were a message to lead her back. Back to _him_. The Doctor. She had held all of time and space inside of her head once. Seen everything, everything that was, is and ever would be. Every possible maybe or could have been. So how had she still allowed herself to be seperated from him?

Shortly after being stuck in Pete's world, she began work on the dimension canon. She used the versions Touchwood had made before the breach closed as a base and built on it. It was hard work, long and tiring, but if she made it back to the Doctor it was all worth it. She loved him and even if his chance had been taken away from him, Rose was sure that he had been about to say it back. He burnt up a sun just to say goodbye to her, after all. As far as grand gestures go, that was right up there.

She didn't just want to return because of the Doctor though. This universe just didn't feel right to her, both Mickey and her mother said they felt fine, but to Rose something felt off. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that there had never been a Rose Tyler in this dimension to start with.

While building the canons, she studies and reads and researches and experiments. If she had the time, she probably could have gone to school and earned a degree or two with how much she learned. Physics and maths and mechanics and engineering and astronomy and any other number of things that would help with getting the dimension canons to work.

For years, whenever she had time, Rose worked on them, hoping and praying that each time they would work and pull her back to the correct universe, but for years, nothing. She threw herself into it, made it her life to get back. And not just to the Doctor, to the right universe.

Then the stars stared to go out and the canons started to work. It was always a fifty fifty shot as to whether she laned in the right place, but at least they were going somewhere. Eventually she found a way to use her TARDIS key to control which universe she landed in and the chances of ending in the wrong dimension dropped to only one shot in ten.

Most jumps lasted only a few minutes, usually about a half an hour, but sometimes, not often, but sometimes a jump could go anywhere between a few hours and up to a week. The longest Rose had been stuck somewhere was 22 days. She had to stay somewhere in the Elizabethan age and ending up being arrested and sent to the Tower of London by the Virgin Queen herself. She had called Rose the sixteenth century equivalent to an adulterous, home wreaking whore and mentioned the Doctor. Hopefully that meant that Rose would find the Doctor again, because as far as she could recall they had never had an adventure in this era together before.

Luckly the canon had pulled her back before she was sentenced to death.

After that, she began taking a small bag with her, holding things to help her if she was stranded. Food or money or things to sell or barter with. And always, she would take the psychic paper that she had on her when she fell and two photos, one of her and her first Doctor, taken by Jack shortly after he joined the crew and one of her and her second Doctor, from Christmas. Other than the photos on her phone, that was all she had.

A year into the jumps, and the night's sky had half the stars it had the year before and the project gained more leeway. More Scientists joined. Even though they had several canons made, Rose was still the only actual jumper. Mickey had started training to start making jumps too soon.

A jump went wrong once and Rose came back injured. She landed in the middle of what she assumed was the Time War and an explosion went off. There was Daleks and distruction everywhere. She was saved by a man in a green velvet waist coat and cravat, curly, brown hair and blue eyes. He had asked her if she was alright, but Rose kept her head down. Her hair acting as a shield for her face.

She'd seen a few pictures of the Doctors past faces when she had asked him after he regenerated. This man that saved her was the Doctor. Just not the Doctor she was looking for. She was too early.

As soon as she could, Rose escaped the Doctor's concerned questioning and ran for a clear space, the alarm on her watch warning her of a return, was going off. She dodged Daleks and rubble and bodies and civilians and Time Lords. She disappeared in a flash of light before the past Doctor's eyes, his concerned shouts following her retreat.

It wasn't until she was back at Touchwood in Pete's World that she noticed the blood, and a second longer to feel the pain. There was a metal rod, about six inches long, buried half way into her stomach. Not to mention, shrapnel was embedded in parts of her exposed skin. No wonder the Doctor had been concerned.

It had taken less than a week to completely heal and nothing could stop Rose from jumping again.

That hadn't been Rose's only run in with the wrong Doctor. There was never any way of knowing just when or where she would come out. The devices themselves had been set to land within an hour and ten miles of the TARDIS, using her key as a sort of homing device.

Once she had caught a glimpse of the Doctor in the incarceration that had obviously been colour blind or in the eighties. It had been on some quintessential English street with a brunette companion in bright pink.

Another time, in what she assumed had been the Stone Age, she had spotted the First Doctor and his companions get captured. That had been a rather short jump and she had only stayed for a few minutes.

She had even caught a glimpse of her past self with her first Doctor, Jack and past Mickey. The one that was all leather and ears. Her heart clenched at seeing him. They were in Cardiff, chasing Margaret the Slitheen.

The last time it happened, she landed in the 70's and the Doctor was again dressed in velvet, only this time he had ruffles and a cape too, driving a small yellow car, with who Rose could see was yonger Sarah Jane.

Seeing the younger Doctors, just made Rose long for _her_ Doctor, the one in the pin stripes and converse, with the manic energy, wide smile and really, _really_ , great hair.

After her first injury, Rose had had a few other harsh landings, mostly it was just her endjng up in bad situations upon arriving, but every injury she got healed in record time.

Her father got a doctor at Touchwood that he trusted to run some tests and found some confusing results. Mostly it was just that Rose's cells were healing at astronomical rates and her cellular degeneration was slowed to almost half of what regular human's was, perhaps even more. And the degeneration kept slowing with every trip Rose took through the void.

After that, she would study her face in the mirror every night, trying to look for signs of aging. She was 26, but she looked like she could barely pass for 21.

Despite the trust Pete had in his physician, it still leaked out that Rose Tyler was not entirely normal. Some factions within Torchwood rose up, thinking Rose was an alien imposter and one day, while Rose was preparing to do a jump, a group of them stormed the floor.

A shot rang out through the air and went straight through the button on the canon Rose had in her pocket. The coordinates had already been entered, and the jump already started. A second after the device was destroyed, Rose disappeared in a flash of light and landed on a street in what appeared to be Victorian London, just in time to hear the sound of a TARDIS taking off.

She should have known, that morning on the way to work, Rose had seen a number plate that read B4D-W0LF and last night on the telly, a new movie was showing a trailer, starring Hollywood's latest big name as the Big Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf always had a way of warning her of trouble.

Rose swore, the device in her hand sparking and smoking. She threw it aside and it exploded with a small bang. She took off into an alley, sure her blue leather jacket and black pants would attract the wrong attention in Victorian times. Just as she had been called naked that time by Queen Victoria for wearing the wrong era clothes.

She briefly spared a thought of her family, back in the other universe but knew that Mickey and her father would get it sorted, her mother and younger brother would be taken care of. Right now she needed a plan.

Without the canon, she had no way of getting back, her watch was also dead, having been linked to the relay on the canon device. And with the TARDIS having just left, she was grounded. Stuck on the slow path.

At least she was stuck on the right Earth (she could just tell by the way she felt) and in London, judging by Westminster Abbey and Big Ben that she could see across the Thames. The Doctor was bound to show up sooner or later, and with her weird aging, she _should_ be able to wait it out, it was just that she had a mission to complete.

She found a newspaper in the alley, it was 1898.

She _only_ had a hundred or so years until the stars would start to go out. That gave her time to plan.

* * *

Rose did the only thing she could then, she stashed her gun, to be picked up later and stole a dress off a line, promising herself that she'd pay them back when she could. Then she took stock of the jewelry she was wearing.

Two rings, both very pretty and with real precious stones in them, a pair of gold hoop earring and a tennis bracelet. If she sold them she should be all right for a bit. The only thing she would not part with was the chain around her neck that held her TARDIS key.

She also had a few things in her bag, perhaps she could sell them too. At least she had money taken care of, now she just had the problem of trying to blend in.

* * *

Several weeks later, Rose had settled in better than she thought she would. She had sold the jewelry and then gotten a job as a teacher at a small school a short way out of London by pretending to be a widow. She figured it was for the best to avoid the Queen as she was still banished, it would only be three years until the monarch died. And it was not like women had a whole lot of options at the turn of the last century.

At least she still had the psychic paper. She never jumped without it, she just never thought she'd have to use it though, for identification.

Mrs Rose Tyler nee Prentice was twenty-one years old and had only been married for a year and a half when her husband, James, had died in a carriage accident.

In 1902, Rose left her post by faking an engagement and a move to Scotland, when in actual fact she was starting to get paranoid her not aging would get someone noticing.

Really, Rose went back to London and started again, still pretending to be Rose Tyler nee Prentice. She was a governess for the young children of a wealthy family with a country estate. She stayed with them for five years.

Her next place was less lucky and she was only there for two years. And so it continued.

It had been so long since Rose had seen the Doctor. And now she was trapped on the slow path, doomed to wait out her life until she could catch up with a Doctor that would know her.

After almost fifteen years, Rose was fed up. She had been four different women, four widows. All the while looking out for the Doctor. She was nearly tempted to show up in Southampton for the launch of the Titanic, as she knew for fact that at least one Doctor was there, only not the doctor she was looking for.

Instead, in 1912, Rose again left London. She knew what was coming in just a few years. 1914, World War 1. The Great War. She didn't really want to see the devastation in such a populated area as the capital of Great Britain. Plus with it being such a monumental part of history there was bound to be a lot of fixed points, so Rose was staying as far away from any of the war as she could.

She took a postion as a librarian in an all boys school in the countryside several hours away from London.

Farringham School for Boys in Herefordshire was pretty out of the way. She chose it for a forrest it had close to the property Wolf Woods, it wasn't _Bad Wolf_ but she'd take what she could. It was quiet and removed from London society. The other staff and teachers were nice and welcoming to a young widow.

The boys that attended though, some were right little snots and by 'snots' she meant something with similar letters just a 'hi' instead of 'no'. The type of boys Rose would have made fun of for being posh and prissy and stuck-up. If Rose's mother knew where she was working, well, she'd definitely say this place gave her 'airs and graces'.

Rose kept her nose down. She was starting younger this time around, claiming to be just twenty, she still looked like she was about twenty, even if she was closer to fourty-five or so. She needed to be able to keep up the facade for at least six years or so, until the end of the War.

Just before the start of her second year at Farringham's there was a stir in the gossip around the school and nearby town. A new history teacher had just arrived and would be starting, a teacher named _John Smith._

Rose was preparing herself for disappointment, she knew the chances that it was the Doctor were low, but a tiny part held on to hope. At least until she met Mr Smith and found that despite the uncanny resemblance to the Doctor, the new History teacher was a regular human who did not know Rose Tyler and did not own a time machine/space ship.

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 **Please leave a review and let me know what you think of it so far.**


	2. An Uncanny Resemblance

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed and followed my story. I absolutely love reading people's reviews.**

 **Be warned, I cannot promise regular updates. I have three young children. But I will try my hardest to give you few chapters a month.**

 **I do not own Doctor Who.**

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Chapter 2

An Uncanny Resemblance

The first time Rose met Mr Smith, she couldn't not stare. He looked so much like the Doctor, used one of the Doctor's aliases and even had some mannerisms of the Doctor, but his eyes showed no signs of recognizing her. She had seen him from afar on the grounds and almost ran to him, but something stopped her.

A few days later, Rose was doing checks on all the books before school started up the next day when he entered the library.

Mr Smith came in, a small smile on his face, but the smile wasn't the same as the Doctor's, no manic energy. His hair, while still great, wasn't like the Doctor's, it wasn't unruly and sticky-uppy, it was neatly combed. But it was his eyes that truly gave away that this was not the Doctor, they held none of the Doctor's inner demons.

"You are Mrs Tyler?" He asked her, a flash of something in his eyes, it wasn't recognition, it was shock. Maybe. But it was his voice. The Doctor's voice. It may have been twenty years since Rose had seen or heard _this_ Doctor, but she would know that voice anywhere. It didn't make sense.

"Hello," Rose said back, putting up a happy front but inside her she felt like dying. If this was the Doctor, why didn't he know her? What was wrong with him? "Mr Smith?"

He stared at her, his brow furrowed.

"Mr Smith?" She repeated.

"Oh, oh, um I'm sorry." He smiles, a bit wider than before, and wiped his hand on his jacket before holding it out to shake hers. "Yes, I'm John Smith. I was just coming by to get a few books for lessons this week. And to introduce myself. So sorry I haven't before."

He then grabbed and tugged at his ear lobe. That was something the Doctor use to do. Just when she dismisses the chances that he is not the man Rose loves, he does someting so Doctor-like and she doubts it again.

Is it possible that he had amnesia and was trapped away from the TARDIS?

Or was he just some human anomaly, that looked and sounded like the Time Lord, even had his mannerisms, but wasn't him.

It was just Rose's luck. Finally find the Doctor and it's not really the Doctor. But that can't be right. Messages of Bad Wolf led her here, this had to be the Doctor.

"It's nice to meet you Mr Smith." Rose's mind is trying to get her head around it all. This _has_ to be the Doctor. Who else could he be? "How are you finding Farringham's?"

She decides that she will have to keep an eye on Mr John Smith. And an eye out for the TARDIS. And maybe even a companion.

"I've only been here a few days, but it seems perfectly lovely." He then runs his hand through his - still really great - hair and looks out at the shelves, his hand now out of his hair and pulling a small piece if paper from his pocket. "I have a list of the books I'm after, could I trouble you for some help, Mrs Tyler?"

"Of course, Mr Smith." She came out from around the other side of her desk and held out her hand, it was just to get the list off Mr Smith, but she half wished he would take her hand in his. She had a gut feeling that it would feel oh-so-right. "Your list?"

"Here," he held it out. "Well, lead the way Mrs Tyler. Allons-y."

Rose glanced down at the paper and noticed the messy scribble that this man took as his hand writing and started off down the racks to the History section. Then she stopped and spun around when she heard his last word.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked shocked.

"Allons-y?" He repeated, "Means 'let's go' in French."

"I know," Rose said. "What it means. Uh, just never mind, let's get you your books, Mr Smith. I'm sure you're very busy, what with school starting tomorrow."

Rose remembered hearing the Doctor say 'Allons-y' the day they closed the breach and she fell. She also remembered him saying he should say it more often.

Surely this is all too much of a coincidence. Bad Wolf had led her here, she had been following Bad Wolf almost her whole life. Bad Wolf was her, but it was also a message. It was a path to lead her to the Doctor.

Was this man the Doctor and if so did he need her help? Was he in trouble? Had some alian wiped his memory?

Either way, Rose needed to get Mr Smith out of here as soon as she could. She needed to think and him being here was making her light headed.

All she wanted was to run into Mr Smith's arms and hug him, but what if he wasn't the Doctor? Not to mention, such an intimate gesture between different genders in this time hugging when they weren't married or related was frowned upon.

She quickly collected the books he required and sent him on his way before locking the library doors and collapsing behing her desk. That's when the tears came.

* * *

Martha Jones hated 1913 and she had only been here for five days.

The Doctor just had to go and turn himself human, leaving her, a woman of colour in the early twentieth century to play his maid. Oh, he better take her somewhere really nice when these three months were over.

Here she was, taking him his tea and food. Washing his clothes and cleaning after him! Scrubbing floors and dusting! She hated dusting, it gave her really bad hayfever. She had her doctorate - or almost had her doctorate - and she was his personal servant. He owed her BIG time after this was all finished.

And it wasn't even just the human Doctor that was causing her mood. Martha had to put up with the backward attitudes of the time. If anything bothered her, it was putting up with the ignorance and intolerance of this time period.

Martha grumbled under her breath about the situation as she took Mr Smith's afternoon tea tray back to the kitchen, where she would pick up his dinner, passing the library as she went.

She heard light bang followed by a muffled thump and a pained curse coming out of the ajar doors.

Martha was training to be a doctor and it sounded like someone had just been hurt, the least she could do was check if the person was all right and then call for the Matron.

She entered the library, placing the tray she was carrying down on a table just inside the doors.

"Hello," Martha called, trying and failing to remember the name of the librarian. "Are you alright? I heard a yell."

"'M fine," she heard. A blond woman, perhaps a few years younger than herself, came out from behind a shelf, fixing her mussed hair. "I missed a step on the ladder, good thing I way only half way up. Nothing really too hurt but my pride."

"Okay then, miss," Martha bowed her head slightly and went to fetch the tray and leave. "I was only checking to make sure you're alright, I'll just be on my way then."

"Wait," the librarian said, stepping forward. "Thank you." She smiled brightly, "I'm Rose Tyler, you're new, aren't you? I don't remember you from last year." She walked towards Martha with her hand outstretched as if to shake, before stopping the gesture.

"Martha Jones, miss," she said again with another incline of her head. "I came here with Mr Smith, the new History teacher. I'm his personal maid, he found me employment here." Martha wasn't sure if she imagined it or not but Miss Tyler's eyes widened a fraction at the mention of the Doctor's human name.

"It's Missus," the blond said, "I'm widowed."

"Oh, sorry."

"That's fine," Mrs Tyler smiled again, she was by far the friendliest person Martha had met on staff at Farringham apart from Jenny, another maid. "Thank you for your concern Martha. Nice to meet you."

"You too, ma'am." Martha replied, withwith a small bow and a tight smile.

"Mr Smith," Mrs Tyler said. "I met him this afternoon, seemed a nice enough blo- ah, man. Bit ah, scatterbrained, though."

"Oh no, ma'am," Martha defended, Mr Smith was still the Doctor. Kind of. "He's brilliant, bit of a rambler, and easily distracted, but brilliant."

"I meant no offense, Martha." Mrs Tyler smiled, then, unlike last time, this smile reached her eyes. "Really, he- he reminded me of someone. Someone I've not seen in a long time." The librarian shook her head as if to clear it. "Well I best get back to work, big day tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Mrs Tyler," Martha said, picking up the tray and leaving, catching a glimpse of the young widow, who now that Martha looked, had an underlining sadness to her, returing to the books needing to go back on the shelves.

* * *

When Rose retired to her personal rooms later that night, she sat at a small writing table that faced away from the windows, and pulled out several journals from a locked drawer. She went over every clue she found about in the last fifteen years. Every mention of Bad Wolf and compared them.

She hoped it would give her answers, but instead just made her head hurt.

Martha Jones, the maid, arrived with Mr Smith. She must be his latest companion. Rose felt a stab of jealousy. He had replaced her.

So, all she knew, was that the Doctor was human or masquerading as a human or forgot who he is and really thinks he is human. Martha was here to watch over him. She was his personal maid, there was no better way to keep an eye on Mr Smith.

At least she hoped that was how it was. If this all turned out to be false and Mr Smith really was just Mr Smith and Martha just a maid, Rose didn't know how she would handle that.

* * *

John Smith had not been able to stop thinking about Mrs Tyler since he met her yesterday afternoon. He had seen her about the school and grounds over the last few days and something about her just captivated him.

There was something almost familiar about her. His first day here at Farringham's when he had seen her in the hall and he had been dreaming about her since. Dreaming about her and him really. The Doctor and Rose Tyler. He didn't even know if her first name was Rose.

Only it wasn't really him, this character, named the Doctor, who was him, but wasntl't. Sometimes he even looked different. Old, young. Dark hair or light. Tall or short. And he wore the most unusual clothes.

Martha, his maid, had even been in a dream, along with several other people. His companions or assistants, as he, the Doctor, called them.

There was a knock on his door, breaking him from his thoughts. Martha pushed it open and brought in a tray holding his breakfast.

"Good morning, Mr Smith," she said, placing the tray down on a small table.

"Good morning, Martha," he said, while she went about, making his bed in the corner. "Thank you."

As John ate his breakfast, he furiously scribled in his dream journal, trying to write as many details of last nights dream as he could remember.

"Say Martha, weren't you telling me last night that you met Mrs Tyler, the librarian?" He asked offhand, trying to sound nonchalant.

Martha, who was fluffing up his pillows, stopped and placed it back down before turning to him.

"Yes Sir," she walked closer to the table John was seated at. "She took a slight tumble on the ladder and I popped in to see if she was alright. She was very nice, mentioned that she met you earlier."

"Ah, yes, yes, very nice, indeed." John said. He picked up his tea cup and took a sip. "Very helpful. Does her husband also work here or is he employed in town?"

"She's widowed, Sir."

"Oh, that's terrible, she's so young. She can't've been married very long."

"Yes, I'll just be on my way now Sir." Martha grabbed the now empty tray, "Good luck today."

When she had left, John looked down and his page, one he had been scribbling in for the last twenty minutes while he talked to Martha. On a previously blank page there now say a rough sketch of Mrs Tyler, looking positively indecent. Bare legs, covered in dark stockings, a very short dress and her hair loose and in waves, wearing heavy kohl on her eyes.

John, ashamed, ripped out the page and threw it into the fire immediately.

He left his quarters, ready to start his job teaching here, determined to distract himself from Mrs Tyler. He had only spoken to her once, after all, how hard could it be?

* * *

The first week back had been rather slow for Rose. Apart from a few truly dedicated students, no one much visited the library. In fact, she didn't expect a steady stream or reader until at least the third or fourth week. Too many of the boys were still on holiday time.

She had kept a close eye on both Mr Smith and Martha, but hadn't been able to talk to either of them. Now it was the first Saturday into the year and Rose had to walk into the town, needing to visit a few shops.

She was walking along a gravel path, lined by a small wall and surrounded by trees when Martha, riding a bicycle, passed her.

Rose didn't think much on it at first. Martha was probably doing the same she was and going to the village to pick up some stuff. Perhaps Mr Smith had sent her.

It wasn't until she passed an old stone shed with a wooden door and Martha's bicycle leaning against the side that Rose thought differently.

She approached the building, her hand pushing the door open and she saw it. The TARDIS.

* * *

 **Chapter two in the bag. Leave a review and tell me what you think?**

 **The Rose John Smith drew was her during Tooth and Claw.**

 **Also, if John Smith seems a but to Doctor-like, it's just around Rose. I'm pretending that qhen he's with her, the Doctor leaks through, just a little.**


	3. Crush

**This chapter is very dialogue heavy. I hope I don't confuse anyone with how the story flows.**

 **The bits in _Italic_ are quotes from Doctor Who episodes Doomsday and Human Nature.**

 **I do not own Doctor Who.**

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Chapter 3

Crush

 _"The one adventure I can never have."_

 _"Am I ever gonna see you again?" The crying girl asked, ending her question with a sob. She looked so sad, and yet she was the most beautiful sight he had seen. So tragically beautiful._

 _"You can't." He watches her, these tears, tearing at his insides. It physically hurts him to see her in so much anguish._

 _"What you gonna do?" She's asking him? What is he going to do? Without her?_

 _Be lost. And Alone. Miss her._

 _Regret._

 _"Oh, I've got the TARDIS, same old life. Last of the Time Lords." Yes same old, lonely life. The one he had before he met her. The one he didn't want to have again, but had to._

 _"On your own?"_

 _He nods, alone. Always alone._

 _She stares at him, her eyes filled with sadness. "I l-" she can't speak._

 _"I love you," she finally says. But it's too late._

 _He always imagined, in his wildest, most unbelievable dreams, that if they ever confessed their feeling, they would get to embrace._

 _"Quite right, too." He tells her, and it is, because he loves her as well. She nods at him, with a broken smile. "And I suppose, if it's my last chance to say it."_

 _"Rose Tyler..."_

John gasps awake. His hand going up to rub his eyes, only to discover that he is crying.

Rose Tyler. That girl again. The one who looks exactly like Mrs Tyler. Sure, there were a few minor differences, but their faces were the same.

These dreams were starting to drive him mad. He hadn't even been here at Farringham's for two weeks yet.

John had tried time and again to put the pretty librarian out if his thoughts, but she still lingered. In John's mind, Mrs Tyler and Rose were so closely woven, it was hard to set them apart. Which was why he had been avoiding her.

But perhaps that wasn't the way to go about it, maybe if John got to know Mrs Tyler, it would help his subconscious to separate these two women.

With his mind made up, John decided that he would spend the weekend trying to get to know his fellow staff, a certain librarian in particular.

* * *

The TARDIS! It's the actual TARDIS! John Smith was the Doctor. Her Doctor. The one she was looking for.

Bad Wolf had been right. She could almost feel the air vibrating.

Rose took the TARDIS key out, from the chain around her neck she always wore and slid it into the lock. It felt so good, like coming home.

The moment Rose's hand touched the TARDIS, she felt muscles she had not even known were stiff, relax. She could breathe deeper. An amost permanent dull ache she always had in her temples, disappeared. A tension in her body, she had not even been aware of, left.

Rose couldn't believe it. She pushed on the door and stepped into the console room.

Martha looked up in shock, when she heard the door close and someone stepping on the grating floor.

"Mrs Tyler," Martha said, shocked. She was standing on the side of the console, her eyes wide. "What are you do- How did you ge- Who the bloody hell are you?" She finally got out, bending down and grabbing the mallet the Doctor had attached to the controls. She raised it threateningly above her head.

"Woah, Martha, let's just put the Doctor's mallet down." Rose tried walking more into the room, but Martha shook her head, still holding the mallet.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." Martha kept on shaking her head, the mallet shaking with her. "Who the hell are you? Have you been following me? Are you from the Family?"

"I promise you Martha, I mean you no harm." Rose held her hands up, to show she was unarmed. "I just recognised Mr Smith as the Doctor. I'm an old friend, I saw the TARDIS, and I used my own key to get in. See?" Rose gestured to the key still out over her dress, hanging on its chain.

"Look, I want to trust you," Martha said, lowering the mallet, but not letting it go. "I really do, 'cause then I wouldn't be so alone, but I can't put the Doctor at risk."

"'Who's 'The Family'?" Rose asked, taking a tentative step forward, trying to remember some of her old Touchwood training just incase she needed to disarm Martha, but it had been fifteen years. "Why doesn't the Doctor remember who 'e is? Why doesn't 'e remember me?"

"Who are you?" Martha asked, "Look, you got a key, I'll give you that, but I don't know you. You're just some librarian who follows maids. In 1913. Is Mrs Tyler even your name?"

"This isn't going anywhere." Rose sighed, she went towards a coral strut, and stroaked it.

 _Hello lovely girl, I missed you. Almost as much as I missed him._

The part under her hand grew warm and the dull lights in the control room flickered a bit, as if answering Rose back.

Martha gasped, as the TARDIS showed life. It was supposed to just be on emergency power, after all.

"My name is Rose Tyler, but 'm not a missus. Never been married, see." Martha's eyes went wide at Rose's name. "It's just easier to pass for a widow in this time. Stops unwanted attention and allows me, a young, single woman, to get a job. You know, without questions."

"Rose? The Doctor's Rose?" She asked, disbelievingly.

"He talked about me?" Rose smiled, sadly. "That's weird, 'e never talks about us after we've left the TARDIS. Only reason I found out abou' Sarah Jane was 'cause we ran into her."

"How comes your accent is different now?" Martha asked, still understandably, suspicious. "When I met Mrs Tyler in the library las' week, she sounded almost posh, now you sound like you're from London. Like my London."

"I am from your London. Well, early twenty first century London. I speak a bit more, well, posh to fit in with the school, sometimes I forge' myself. Plus, fifteen years of hiding your Cockney accent, eventually it starts to fade."

"I was born-" she paused, frowning, "I will be born in 1986. I've been lookin' for the Doctor for a really long time. There's something in the future, something big. Something bad. An' it's threating the entire multiverse. We found a way to track him, but I got stuck, a hundred years from my time, waiting, hoping I'd run into a Doctor that knew me. Can't even do that, can I?" Rose sighs, disheartened.

"So you're Rose? You're actually Rose? The Doctor's Rose?" Martha asked, she still couldn't believe it.

"Do you believe me yet?"

"If you're Rose, how come you left him? He misses you so much," Martha accused.

Rose tried to remind herself that Martha was probably just trying to protect the Doctor.

"I didn't mean to leave..." Rose said, in a defeated voice, she felt like crying. It had been years since she had really cried over their separation, but this past week was just bringing everything up to the surface. "There was this battle, with the Cybermen and the Daleks and I didn't mean to let go, but my grip... and then the lever-I had to fix it. One minute, we're jokin' together, next, I'm fallin' into the void and..."

She was crying, tears welling in her eyes and finally, some escaped, falling down her cheeks, as she tried to get this rushed explanation out.

Rose took in a big breath. Martha was looking at her in a different way now, almost pitying.

"What happened with me and the Doctor is a really long story," Rose said. "We were trying to send the Cybermen and the Daleks back into the void, and not get sucked in ourselves. But I lost my grib and if my dad hadn't caught me... I was trapped. In a parallel universe. I didn't leave him. I'd never leave him if I had the choice. I promised him forever."

Again, Rose reached out and touched the TARDIS, and again, the lights flickered and it grew warm under her hand.

Martha was shocked at the devotion she saw on Rose's face.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or-or make you bring up painful memories. I just- the Doctor was always so lost looking when he brought you up. I'm sorry." Martha finally dropped the mallet. "The TARDIS seems to know you."

"The TARDIS is sentient, she knows all the Doctor's 'strays'. Gives us all weird nicknames. Mind you, she and I are sorta close." Rose bumped her hip on the console.

"What?"

"Me and this lovely ship. Nothing, never mind. It's a long story, anyway. I'll tell you some other time."

"I'm sorry, you lost me," Martha said, confused.

"Well, 'cause she technically exists outside of time. Everywhere. Everywhen. The TARDIS knows us, but she and I were one, for a very breif moment. I saw all of time and space, not that I remember any of it."

"You'll have to tell me that story sometime."

"Sure."

"So, you're really her? Rose?"

"Yeah."

"All right, but I'm not saying I trust you, 'cause I really don't. I really shouldn't, but I'll give you a chance."

"That's fine," Rose said. "I'll prove myself. The Doctor takes his tea with at least five sugars, he will inhale bananas if you let him. He eats jam straight from the jar, with his fingers. He has this thing about licking things, which is gross. His ego is about as big as his mouth. And, he's the best person in the universe. I could probably go on all day, but you know all of this too. I wouldn't expect anything less from someone who travels with the Doctor. He only takes the best, after all."

Rose gave Martha a small nod of acknowledgment.

Martha felt herself wavering. All her jealousy over Rose and her unrequited feelings for the Doctor welled inside her. She had resented Rose's memory, her very history, just because of this perfect being the Doctor had built Rose up to be in Martha's mind. But the real Rose, she was just so genuine. So real. And this woman, she had already proved, in just a few short minutes, that she knew the Doctor and the TARDIS.

"I wanted to hate you. In fact I kinda did." She finally said, dropping herself onto the jump seat. "When I joined the Doctor, he was so sad. It must've been shortly after he lost you. I felt like you were this huge shadow looming over me. Everything was 'Rose this' and 'Rose that' and 'Rose would know what to say'."

Rose felt heavy. The Doctor grieved for her. He planted a memory of her everywhere, forcing her onto Martha. While what he did was wrong, making poor Martha feel like she had something to prove. It wasn't fair, but still, she felt relief knowing she was missed.

"I'm not that great," Rose said, sitting next to Martha. "I've made some really bad mess ups. I once saved someone who should've died," Rose remembered her father, the one that died in 1987. "The Doctor was not happy with me. There were these great, horrible monsters flyin' about, eatin' people and there we were, trapped in a church."

Martha laughed, rather humourlessly. "It's good to know you're not perfect, 'cause you were a hell of a lot to try to live up to."

Rose and Martha then spent close to two hours talking about why the Doctor was hiding.

 _"And number twenty three; if anything goes wrong... if they find us, Martha, then you know what to do. Open the watch, everything I am is kept safe in there._

 _Now I've put a perception filter on it. The human me won't think anything of it, to him it's just a watch. But don't open it unless you have to, because once it's open, then the Family will be able to find me._

 _It's all down to you Martha, your choice. Oh, and thank you."_

"So this 'Family' want to steal the Doctor's Time Lord life force and to hide 'e turned himself human? And stuck 'is Time Lord self in a fob watch?" Rose asked, after turning off the video. He heart was sore, she had seen this recording of the Doctor. The actual Doctor. And his smile. She reached a hand out and stroked the paused face of the Doctor on the screen in front of her. "And Mr Smith is the Doctor, but he isn't as well? And, he made you, 'is faithful companion, 'is servant, so you can look out for him, but you still have to do 'maid' things?"

"Yeah, that's about right." Martha nodded, a little impressed Rose managed to follow her disjointed explanation.

"Oh, I'd kill 'im if he did that to me," Rose muttered. "The Doctor made me a dinner lady at a high school once. Right, smug git 'e was then, too. Kept sayin' I missed bits on the table when wiping and sayin' he'd having the crumble. I wanted to smack 'im and it was only for a few days. I take my hat of to you, Martha Jones. Martha Jones, that's your actual name, right?"

"Yeah," Martha sighed.

"Look, Martha, I'd love to stay and trade stories with you more, but I still need to run to the village and then get some stuff done back at the school." Rose stood from the console and dusted her skirt. "Tomorrow afternoon, I get tea in my rooms around four, join me?"

"I don-" Martha started.

"I insist," Rose said. "It would help us get to know one another. If you need an excuse, just say I asked for some extra help with the dusting. Not many of the other staff come to the library and actually stay for long enough to notice that I keep it quite clean. Think of it as a few hours respite."

"All right," Martha replied. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow. It was nice to actually meet you, Rose."

"You too, Martha," and with that Rose left. It pained her to leave the TARDIS, but she would be back.

* * *

John tried all morning to find Mrs Tyler, but she wasn't anywhere in the school and she didn't take her lunch in the dining hall, as she usually did. It wasn't until almost two in the afternoon, that he caught up to her.

She was returning from the village, still in her morning clothes, ladden down with some bags and a decently sized package in her arms.

It was slighty unnerving, John thought, having a small crush on a fellow staff member. He barely knew Mrs Tyler. He didn't even know her first name, had only spoken to her once and yet he really could not stop thinking about her. But did he only dream about Rose because he had met Mrs Tyler, or was Mrs Tyler so interesting to him only because he dreamed of Rose? Who came first, he really could not remember. Or were they one in the same? His dream girl and the withdrawn librarian?

There weren't many women on staff at Farringham's. Just the Matron, Nurse Redfern, Mrs Tyler, the maids and some of the teachers of the younger boys, most of which John had not met, as the younger classes were in another part of the school.

"Mrs Tyler," John said, walking across the lawn to her. She was coming up the main path. "Good afternoon."

"Do-ah, Mr Smith," she said, a bright smile lit her face and her resemblance to his dream Rose doubled. If only she did not have a shadow in her eyes, like a burden or trouble that no one but her carried. "Hello, good afternoon to you too."

John stepped in besides her, "Would you like some help?" He asked, his hands moving toward the package in her hands.

"Oh, that's all right, I'm sure I can manage."

"I insist," he said.

She opened her mouth, perhaps to decline, but stopped and smiled again. "All right then, sure," she handed the box over.

It was more heavy than he had expected. She was strong, or at least resilient and stubborn.

"How was your first week at Farringham's?" She asked, being polite. John could tell, she was really only asking because it was the social norm to make polite conversation. From what he could tell, Mrs Tyler usually kept to herself.

"Great, those books you helped me with really helped get the boys settled into the new year of schooling. Thank you for that."

They reached the front doors of the school. John managed to open the doors with only a little difficulty, holding them open for her.

"After you," he said, moving to the side and letting Mrs Tyler in first.

"Thank you."

"So," John began, trying to think of a way to get to know her. "How long have you been at Farringham's?"

He looked at Mrs Tyler out of the corner of his eye as they made thetheir way to the library. She really did look almost identical to Rose. The both had the same face, the same full lips, the same large, bright, doe eyes, hazel in colour, yet he swore sometimes they looked amber. Mrs Tyler's hair was a darker blonde than Rose's. All in all, they were both beautiful women.

There was something about Mrs Tyler though, that made John think she was older than she looked. Maybe it was the way she carried herself?

"This is my second year here. I came here about a year after my late husband died."

"Oh," John muttered, suddenly feeling a little awkward. "Sorry, so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't, it's all right." Mrs Tyler stopped in front of the doors to the library and fished out a key from her pocket on her coat. "Thank you, Mr Smith, for your help. If you could just set the box down on my desk, it would be very much appreciated."

John did as he was asked.

"You're most welcome, Mrs Tyler."

As John set the box down, he caught sight of the door to the quarters of the librarian. On the door was ' _R,Tyler'_. Then he looked closer to the top of the box he had just placed down. On the top, were the recipient's name was, ' _Rose Tyler_ ' written.

"Rose Tyler," he muttered.

"What?" Mrs Tyler said, snapping around to stare at him in wide-eyed shock.

"Hm?"

"You said 'Rose Tyler', that's my name."

"Oh," John got out, rubbing his eye. "Um, Rose, right. I-I mean-I saw the name on your package. It's Rose. Very pretty name. Well, I-ah, I should go."

John left the library quickly, leaving a shaken Mrs Tyler in his wake.

Mrs Tyler's name was Rose...

Rose Tyler.

* * *

 **Please review.**

 **Did Martha's and Rose's conversation sound ok?**

 **If anyone is wondering what Rose wears, for imagining purposes, I just google Women's Fashion 1913. Most women wore a morning outfit of a tailored, high necked blouses, and long skirts. In winter they paired it with a coat or shawl. In the afternoon or evening they would change into a dress, for dinner.**


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